The Little Bookshop of Lonely Hearts
by Annie Darling
(London: HarperCollins, 2016)
He never entered a room when he could sweep into one instead.
Page 13.
It was in Bookends that Posy had met some of her best friends.
Page 34.
Pride and Prejudice … was the gold-star, triple-A standard of romance novels.
Page 35.
I hate it when things change.
Page 41.
There’s no such thing as too many books.
Page 50.
For Posy, London was a collection of bookshops with streets attached to them.
Page 57.
The rise of e-readers and the recession hadn’t killed off the printed word. People still loved to read. They still loved to lose themselves in a world forged from paper and ink. They still bought books.
Page 57.
The problem with knowledge as that it was too general, too wide, impossible to know everything.
Page 62.
When things stay the same, they stagnate and fester and then drastic measures are needed.
Page 90.
“Do you hear when people are disagreeing with you or does your brain automatically block the words out?”
Page 129.
She was a grown-up and sometimes grown-ups had to do things they didn’t want to. Quite a lot of the time in fact.
Page 185.
Once you were one half of a couple, then staying in on a Saturday night was suddenly a valid lifestyle choice.
Page 201.
If you want to achieve greatness, then you have to stop asking for permission.
Page 212.
The feelings he aroused in her tended towards annoyance, irritation and teeth-grinding frustration.
Page 225.
Even the most perfect-looking people were as unsure and doubtful as the imperfect-looking people.
Page 230.
It seemed to Posy that no matter how hard she worked, the stress never lessened. With every passing day it seemed to increase until she could feel the weight of it pressing her down, squashing all her vital organs so it was hard to breathe.
Page 259.
Time didn’t heal. It made their absence hurt even more, made Posy determined t hang on to the pain, because if she started to feel better, to miss them less, then her memories of them - the sound of her mother’s laugh, the honeysuckle scent of her perfume, the feel of her father’s arms around her, the buttons of his waistcoat digging into her cheek - would fade, disperse, disappear and they’d be gone for ever.
Page 270.
We find our best friends our best selves, in the pages of the books that we love the most.
Page 298.
Snapping at each other and trading insults was what she and Sebastian did, and the fact that they were still doing it after doing it made Posy feel more at ease with the situation.
Page 362.
Maybe the words printed on the pages might be the words that the reader had heard for so long deep inside their souls but had never been able to say out loud.
Page 377.